How would the 2014 NBA Draft Look Based Solely Off RSCI Rankings?

Going into college, we already have a decent picture of how the high school recruiting services (Scout.com, Rivals, ESPN, etc) viewed prospects' talent-level and potential thanks to the RSCI. The RSCI (recruiting service consensus index) attempts to encapsulate the average rankings of all the major high school recruiting services into one handy number.

Historically speaking, the RSCI matters, as it gives us a glimmer of insight into how prospects were viewed previous to entering college. There are many cases of talented players underachieving in college and seeing their NBA draft stock fall significantly, due to a variety of reasons.

Sometimes these players end up having the last laugh, though, as they are able to rediscover the talent that got recruiting services so excited about them early on in their career later on, which resulted in a NBA team getting a steal.

That's not to say that this happens consistently or even frequently, as the various RSCI lists throughout the years are littered with players who amounted to very little at both the college and pro level, regardless of where they were drafted (they are getting better every year, though).

It's just another variable to be aware of in a player's evaluation and evolution, as understanding as much as possible about their background and realizing why they were (or weren't) held in such high esteem early on in their career is important information that helps in trying to decipher how they arrived to where they are today.

With that in mind, here's what the 2014 NBA Draft class would look like if the players were picked SOLELY off their RSCI ranking going into college. Keep in mind that no international (non-North American) players are here, as they were not evaluated by the high school recruiting services for obvious reasons. 15 international players are currently projected to be drafted in our latest 2014 Mock Draft.

Coming out of high school, a number of players who are currently projected to be drafted were nowhere to be found in the various recruiting service rankings. Here's a look at those who would have went undrafted if the players were picked SOLELY off their RSCI ranking going into college.

A player like Devyn Marble (the son of a NBA draft pick and college legend) may have been dinged by the recruiting service for simply being too young when they evaluated him. He entered college as a 17-year old, and thus was likely competing against players a year or two older than him in high school and AAU. He was ranked as a two to three star recruit, and held scholarship offers from Providence, Dayton, Detroit, Buffalo and Fairfield according to a Scout.com article in 2009.

Clarkson, Payton, McDaniels, and Dinwiddie were also young for their class

Biggest Overachievers

Now that we've established a baseline, we can take a look at which players exceeded their RSCI ranking the most thus far, with where they are currently projected to be drafted, compared with how they were ranked coming out of high school.

Note: any player unranked in the RSCI was given a number of 151 for the sake of consistency. In reality, a player like Doug McDermott or K.J. McDaniels may have been ranked much lower.

It's no surprise to see the high school no-names like McDermott, McDaniels and Payton at the top of this list, but it's interesting to see the type of jump guys like C.J. Wilcox, Spencer Dinwiddie and Nik Stauskas were able to make. Those three were not complete unknowns, but were in fact simply ranked at the bottom of RSCI lists.

It's always interesting to see players like Joel Embiid, who shot up recruiting boards very late in his high school career, but in hindsight could have been propelled much higher even. Jordan Adams, Zach Lavine, Jerami Grant and Tyler Ennis all were also able to improve much more quickly than initially thought.

Biggest Underachievers

Which players underperformed their RSCI ranking the most thus far, with where they are currently projected to be drafted, compared with how they were ranked coming out of high school?

Note: any player unranked in the DraftExpress Top-100 Prospects was given a number of 101 for the sake of consistency. In reality, a player like Josh Hairston or David Wear would be ranked much lower.

To follow up on our note from earlier on highly ranked RSCI prospects who ended up being drafted in the second round (or not at all), we can point to a number of former Top-25 recruits:

Isaiah Austin (#4 RSCI 2012) is one NBA teams will be studying closely, in an attempt to decipher whether he underachieved in college simply due to physical immaturity that might be corrected in time with patience and a better strength program?

James McAdoo (#6 RSCI 2011) is a baffling case, as he likely would have been drafted in the lottery had he left after his freshman season, but instead might not get picked at all following his junior year. Was he simply misevaluated, or does he just need a change of scenery to fulfill the massive potential he was projected to have as a high school recruit?

The same questions can be asked of Joe Jackson (#19 RSCI 2010), Khem Birch (#11 RSCI 2011), Jabari Brown (#14 RSCI 2011), and to a lesser extent, Patric Young (#16 RSCI 2010). Is there anything worth salvaging here, and should they possibly be looked at in a different light based on what recruiting services thought of them just a few years ago?

In a draft class lauded for its guards, three exceptionally talented, and wildly different, forward prospects sit in the top six of our mock draft, each taking a very different path to the top, and demonstrating wildly contrasting strengths and weaknesses. So who is the best prospect among the three?